29+ Irenaeus of Lyons Quotes On Education, Religion And Death

Saint Irenaeus of Lyons was a 2nd-century Christian theologian and bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul. He was an early church father and apologist, and his writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology. He is remembered for his role in combating Gnosticism and defining the parameters of Christian orthodoxy in the face of competing religious ideologies. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Irenaeus of Lyons on education, religion, death.

Top 10 Irenaeus Of Lyons Quotes

1. The glory of God is a human being fully alive; and to be alive consists in beholding God.
2. Jesus Christ, in His infinite love, has become what we are, in order that He may make us entirely what He is.
3. As long as any one has the means of doing good to his neighbours, and does not do so, he shall be reckoned a stranger to the love of the Lord.
4. The glory of God is the human person fully alive.
5. Since it is impossible, without God, to come to knowledge of God, he teaches men through his Word to know God.
6. Because of his boundless love, Jesus became what we are that he might make us to be what he is.
7. The initial step for us all to come to knowledge of God is contemplation of nature.
8. The business of the Christian is nothing else but to be ever preparing for death.
9. No man can know God unless God has taught him; that is to say, that without God, God cannot be known.
10. The Virgin Mary, being obedient to his word, received from an angel the glad tidings that she would bear God.

Irenaeus Of Lyons Short Quotes

• God became man, that we might be gods.
• Through a tree we were made debtors to God; so through a tree we have our debt canceled.
• He who was the Son of God became the Son of man, that man ... might become the son of God.

Irenaeus of Lyons Quotes About Church

One should not seek among others the truth that can be easily gotten from the Church. For in her, as in a rich treasury, the apostles have placed all that pertains to truth, so that everyone can drink this beverage of life. She is the door of life. — Irenaeus of Lyons

It is not necessary to seek the truth among others which it is easy to obtain from the Church; since the apostles, like a rich man [depositing his money] in a bank, lodged in her hands most copiously all things pertaining to the truth. — Irenaeus of Lyons

The church has been planted as a paradise in this world. — Irenaeus of Lyons

For where the church is, there is the Spirit of God, and where the Spirit of God, there is the church and all grace. — Irenaeus of Lyons

The preaching of the Church truly continues without change and is everywhere the same. It has the testimony of the Prophets and Apostles and all their disciples. — Irenaeus of Lyons

Irenaeus of Lyons Famous Quotes And Sayings

Error never shows itself in its naked reality, in order not to be discovered. On the contrary, it dresses elegantly, so that the unwary may be led to believe that it is more truthful than truth itself. — Irenaeus of Lyons

We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith — Irenaeus of Lyons

But following the only true and stedfast Teacher, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself. — Irenaeus of Lyons

And when we come to refute them, we shall show in its fitting place that this class of men [i.e., the gnostics] has been instigated by satan to a denial of that baptism which is regeneration to God, and thus to a denial of the whole faith [by denying all physical aspects of spirituality, including the incarnatian and bodily resurrection of Jesus]. — Irenaeus of Lyons

Prior to Valentinus, those who follow Valentinus had no existence. Nor did those from Marcion exist before Marcion. Nor, in short, did any of those malignant-minded people, whom I have listed above, have any existence previous to the initiators and inventors of their perversity. — Irenaeus of Lyons

A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject; knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself. — Irenaeus of Lyons

He who retains unchangeable in his heart the rule of the truth which he received by means of baptism will doubtless recognise the names, the expressions, and the parables taken from the Scriptures [by the gnostics], but will by no means acknowledge the blasphemous use which these men make of them. — Irenaeus of Lyons

[Peter] testified to [the Jews in Acts 2] that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, the Judge of the living and dead, into whom he did also command them to be baptized for the remission of sins. — Irenaeus of Lyons

When we stand in the light it is not we who illumine the light and cause it to shine but we are illuminated and made shining by the light... God grants his blessings on those who serve him because they are serving him and on those who follow him because they are following him, but he receives no blessing from them because he is perfect and without need — Irenaeus of Lyons

But we do now receive a certain portion of His Spirit, tending towards perfection, and preparing us for incorruption, being little by little accustomed to receive and bear God — Irenaeus of Lyons

Error, indeed, is never set forth in its naked deformity, lest, being thus exposed, it should at once be detected. But it is craftily decked out in an attractive dress, so as, by its outward form, to make it appear to the inexperienced — Irenaeus of Lyons

Life Lessons by Irenaeus of Lyons

1. Saint Irenaeus of Lyons taught that true knowledge of God comes through faith in Jesus Christ, not through human reason or philosophy.
2. He also emphasized the importance of unity among Christians, and that unity is based on the teachings of the apostles.
3. Finally, Irenaeus taught that the truth of the Christian faith is found in the Scriptures, which should be interpreted in the light of tradition.